The Blog

You can get Paternity Testing even if the father is deceased.

Unfortunately, in the DNA testing community we do come across a few clients who need a test, but do not have access to the father because they have passed away. If this is the case, it is not as difficult as it sounds.

There are two ways this can be done. One way is to do a genetic reconstruction test. This test is a bit more costly because you are going to have to test the mother and child, along with at least two other direct relatives(parents or full siblings), and that adds cost, but if the father died of natural causes and no autopsy was performed, there will likely not be a sample of the deceased DNA on hand, requiring the other paternal family members.
If the father did not die of natural causes, the local coroner that performed the autopsy will most assuredly have the required DNA (blood stain card) to use for the DNA comparison. Usually all that is required is that a release be signed by the next of kin and the test can get under way.

Recently Legal DNA Testing came across just such a case with a young woman who had recently had twins. Her fiancé had a luxury car that gained the attention of some local, armed hoodlums, and because he did not have his own gun to fight back, he is dead and this young woman is now left to raise not one, but two infants alone.
Fortunately the young man made a good living and the social security money that the children are entitled to will help the mother tremendously. She in fact told me there was NO way she could do this on her own and was going to have to give them up for adoption if she could not prove these were his children, as she did not have any family to speak of and she had been trying for over two months on her own to try to get social security to listen. Because they were not yet married, legally, he was not the father of those children and they are not entitled to his benefits.

I assured her we would be able to help and we did. Three days after the mother called, we had the blood stain release signed and the DNA sample was on the way. We had already collected the child, so five days later, we had her answer.

Legal DNA Testing sent over the copies of the chain of custody test that is required for all legal purposes, and within a few weeks the new mother had the money she was entitled to, guaranteeing a stable future for her two new boys.

Legal DNA Testing specializes in the irregular or “odd” case. If the person is passed away, out of the country, or even incarcerated, it is not a problem. We will take care of all the tedious work that goes into a test like this so you don’t have to.